


stolen sentences

by toddperry



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, but I love him, charlie being oblivious, charlie is a gremlin, he is a little bit of an arse in this but we forgive him because he is charlie and gets a pass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:33:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28844646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toddperry/pseuds/toddperry
Summary: Charlie accidentally mixes up a poem and math homework, a little love ensues.
Relationships: Todd Anderson & Neil Perry, Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Comments: 12
Kudos: 79





	stolen sentences

**Author's Note:**

> the title is so naff but i couldn't think of anything else omg. the poem is 'a glimpse' by walt whitman, initially the hc was that it would be one of todd's own poems, but i am not a poet and cannot write any poetry to save my life, so i reworked it a bit. i hope you enjoy the fluff! i'm back to writing my usual stuff, no more angst for me :)

Charlie hated math, it was his least favourite subject and the bane of his existence. The numbers did not make sense in his head, and when he was asked to multiply or divide? Well, it was a lost cause. Neil, who he was presently sat next to in the study room, was also not someone that people would call a whizz at the subject. They could not even team up and try do the homework together because Neil was timetabled in a different math class to him, and so they got set different work. That meant Charlie was stuck doing it all alone while Neil worked on his English instead. They had to write poetry for Keating’s class again this week, Charlie had scrambled together some words already, a poem about the stupidity of homework because he thought it was funny and he considered it likely that Keating would appreciate being able to make a witty remark about how homework sometimes fosters uniformity and not individuality. 

Charlie considered ditching the math work all together and just observing Neil’s attempt at writing poetry, but then he remembered the last time he had observed Neil’s poetic artistry- he had laughed at one of the lines, Neil was waxing lyrical about some ‘mousy-haired beauty’ in his poem and Charlie said he’d be insulted if someone described his hair as mousy, and Neil had glared at him so severely and said,

“Well, for your information I quite like mice.” And he whacked Charlie over the head with his notebook before going back to writing, Charlie had sat there in shock for a moment at Neil’s reaction and then he spluttered a bit trying to hold his laugh in before he could not hold it any longer and he let out a loud bellow of a laugh that made his stomach hurt, and then the other Poets were noticing and asking what the hell had made Charlie laugh so much, and despite the looks he was getting from Neil that were signalling for him to shut up, Charlie had told them about the line,

“He’s called some girl a mousy-haired beauty in his poem for Keating’s class”, and Neil had flushed a deep red at the giggles that ensued from the other boys. Charlie saw him glance at Todd, which he thought was odd, but then he had remembered that Todd was considered a poetic genius amongst them and so Neil was probably embarrassed he could not write to the same standard as the other boy. Todd was blushing too he noticed, but Todd got flushed at almost everything, he was such a shy cat, and so Charlie pushed it out of his mind. Charlie laughed a bit more before he stopped and patted Neil’s back, 

“Who is this mousy lady then, Neil?” and Neil sighed and turned to him before saying,

“It’s no one you know, Nuwanda” and Charlie had scoffed at this, because he knew everyone, 

“Come on, describe her then,” he shot a mischievous grin at Knox, “maybe we can help you pick a better word, one that would make her swoon”

Neil shuffled about on his seat at Charlie’s question “um- well, uh h- she is shorter than me.”

Charlie and Knox had turned to each other then, a look of disbelief on their faces at the fact Neil could be so tight-lipped about something for once in his life, normally the boy was so loud and boisterous about the things he liked, and then they had burst into fits of giggles again. Knox had actually collapsed his head onto the table, his back shaking with the force of his laughter, Neil groaned at them and then rather curtly said,

“I just don’t want to talk about it.” before he grabbed his poem and strode out of the room, presumably to go to his dorm. Todd had chastised them a bit afterwards, still red in the face, saying they shouldn’t be so mean about Neil’s girl because she obviously meant a lot to him if he was keeping her such a secret, and while Charlie had noticed the downcast look on Todd’s face, he just chalked it up to Todd being one of those very emotional people, the kind who felt everything that everyone around them did; it’s what made him so empathetic, and it was probably the reason he always got so defensive of Neil when they teased him. 

So, having decided that he did not want a repeat of that event, if only to save his head from a beating, Charlie came to the conclusion that his best bet was to find someone who wouldn’t rat, and ask to borrow their homework. He could not ask Knox because he was also just as hopeless as him at math and he was in the other class anyways, and their two geeks, Pitts and Meeks, were away that day at some spelling bee they had qualified for. 

This left Charlie two options: Cameron or Todd. Now Todd was not the ideal choice, he was not as good at math as Cameron and he would probably take more convincing to let him borrow his work (Charlie would just steal Cameron’s and let him whine about it later), but Cameron was more likely to snitch on him or cause such a scene about the theft that he would get caught, he considered for a moment that he could just ask Cameron but concluded rather quickly that he would most likely say no, so that meant Todd was his only option. 

He told Neil of his plan, and Neil just shook his head in disapproval because, though he’d never admit it, Neil was a bit of a teacher’s pet and he always pointed out to Charlie that he cannot cheat on his exams so why cheat now? Charlie would always reply “Is that a dare, Perry?” and Neil would give up the lecture because he knew Charlie would do anything to prove a point. 

“Well, I’ll be back shortly, let’s see if our dear Toddy-boy is willing to help a poor soul like me” and he made his hands into fists and mimicked crying with his hands, which did get a chuckle from Neil before he rose from his seat to leave the study room and meander down the hallways, because Charlie always took his time with these things if it meant less time stuck working, to the dorm room Todd shared with Neil. 

When he finally arrived, he did not bother to knock and simply opened the door. Todd was sat with his head bent over his desk scribbling on a piece of paper, but when he heard the door creak open his back tensed up slightly and he flipped the paper over before pulling a different sheet out of his notebook. He turned then and relief washed over his face, 

“Oh, I thought you were Neil, Charlie…” then, as if he realised suddenly that Charlie having him cornered alone was probably not a good thing, he hesitantly continued, “wh-what do you need?” 

Having concocted a plan on his way to the dorms about what he would say to Todd to convince him to hand over his homework, Charlie spoke “Well, Toddy, I have the world’s largest headache. I’m seeing stars here, seriously, I think I might have to go to the school Nurse.” Todd gave him a sympathetic nod and Charlie continued “and well, I don’t think I’ll be able to finish the math work and I was told if I missed another assignment, I’d get a detention and if I get another detention, I get a cause for concern, and my father will murder me, so-” Todd interjected his little speech with a sigh,

“Charlie if you wanted to borrow my homework you could just ask.” And he quickly turned back to his desk and picked up one of the two papers that rested on the table, before passing it back to Charlie saying, “Here you go.”

Genuinely surprised at how easy it was to get Todd to lend him the work, Charlie stood a moment in shock before gathering himself up and giving him a grin and a little salute, jokingly saying “Thanks, Comrade” before he marched out of the dorm room and made his way back to the study room. 

As he came in through the door, Neil looked up to see him do a little jig in the doorway and Charlie waved the paper about, pointing and gesturing at it as he had won the grand prize in a tournament, he returned to the desk they had been working at and took his place beside Neil again, except this time he pulled the chair on the other side of him out and lifted his feet onto it before reclining back so he was leaning against Neil’s shoulder. Neil made a little noise at him but nevertheless adjusted himself slightly so it was more comfortable for the both of them,

“You weren’t gone long, how was Todd?” asked Neil, who was scribbling out a line, 

“Oh Todd’s swell, he barely took any convincing”

Neil gave him a side look, “I don’t like you using him Charlie…”

“Oh please Neil, we’re friends” and he rolled his eyes, beginning to unfold the paper Todd had given him with the math homework on, but as he opened it he noticed that it was not in fact math homework written on the lined notebook paper, but it was actually a poem. And upon closer inspection, Charlie realised it was a _love poem_. He chuckled to himself, and stood up from his seat so that he could move and sit on the table, his legs swinging under him, now facing Neil for his next performance, 

“A glimpse through an interstice caught,  
Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room around the stove late of a winter night, and I unremark’d seated in a corner,  
Of a youth who loves me and whom I love, silently approaching and seating himself near, that he may hold me by the hand,  
A long while amid the noises of coming and going, of drinking and oath and smutty jest,  
There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little, perhaps not a word.”

What Charlie had failed to pick up on his initial quick read through was that this was a love poem about _another man_ and so when he read it aloud, he came to the slow realisation that Todd was in love with _another boy_ , and he had just read his poem to Neil, meaning he had outed Todd to his roommate. As Charlie finished reading he turned to face Neil directly and then, without stopping to think for a moment, he was saying “Todd’s gay!”, and then he did not even have time to think about how that might complicate things before Neil had shoved his chair back, making an awfully loud screech, and stood up from it, after which he proceeded to whack Charlie’s head as he moved past him with his workbook and Charlie cried out an “Ow, Neil!” while turning to see where the boy was heading, only to see that Todd was stood in the doorway of the study room, his face the deepest shade of red Charlie had ever seen on the boy and his eyes were shimmering with tears. Charlie’s mouth clamped shut and internally he was screaming profanities at himself for being such an idiot. Neil hadn’t even reached Todd before the boy spun on his heel and ran off down the corridor with Neil hastily pursuing him. Charlie thought for a moment that he really ought to stop messing about with poetry, lest he get a concussion. But really, he felt awful and now he could not even consider working on his math work because he had to come up with some form of apology for Todd. Then he read the poem again, and he realised he had missed another crucial bit of information, because scribbled at the bottom was ‘by Walt Whitman’ and Charlie’s mouth formed an o shape before he muttered to himself, 

“Shit. He didn’t even write it.”

Meanwhile, Todd was running as fast as he could back to his and Neil’s shared dorm room. He passed McCallister on his way, who shouted after him to slow down but Todd ignored him and continued, eager to get back so that he could crawl under his duvet and pretend he did not exist. He knew Neil was following him, had even heard when Neil called out his name, but he wanted as much time as possible to come up with some explanation for that poem as he could get and so he had ignored him too. 

He opened the door as quick as he could and shut it a little too hastily behind him, so that it slammed slightly, and he cringed at the loudness. Within moments he was laying under the covers of his bed and facing the wall, just praying that Neil would realise he needed some time alone. His prayers were not answered, however, because it was not long after this that Neil also entered their room. He too shut the door a little loudly, and Todd jolted in his bed a bit. He could not see the other boy, but he could certainly hear him pacing about the wooden floors of their room anxiously and Todd was waiting for Neil to say something, to tell him he was not comfortable sharing a room with him because he liked a boy. If he was thinking rationally, he would have probably realised that Neil gave few shits about stuff like that and would never be so cruel to a friend, or anyone for that matter, but alas Todd was thinking completely irrationally, his anxiety taking over to the point that he began to worry he was on the precipice of a full-blown panic attack. 

Suddenly, Neil’s pacing came to a halt and Todd tensed up, knowing the questioning was about to begin. But instead, he heard a few soft steps and then the creak of Neil’s own bed as he sat down on it, there was a momentary pause, and then the hushed voice of Neil broke the silence,

“You don’t have to say anything about it Todd, you don’t owe anyone any answers or an explanation”

Todd lay still for a moment, processing what Neil had said, before he turned over onto his back and with his left hand fiddled with a loose stitch on his sheets, “Y-you don’t think I’m gross?” he whispered softly, the words making him feel sick,

“No. Never Todd, I would never.” 

“Oh” was all Todd responded with before he whimpered a bit and then suddenly, he was sobbing and lifting the hand that was fiddling with the thread to his eyes to wipe away to tears from his eyes, aware he was embarrassing himself even more in front of Neil. 

“I liked your poem anyways.” Neil said softly, 

Todd sniffled, and wiped his eyes again before replying, slightly confused, “My poem? It’s not mine, it’s one of Uncle Walt’s”

Now it was Neil’s turn to simply reply “Oh”, the silence was deafening then, and it lasted a few minutes before they both said, “I thought you would have read it already” and “I’ve never read that one before” simultaneously. Neil laughed a bit at the absurdity of it all, and soon Todd was giggling along with him and the awkwardness between them broke, Todd turned fully onto his side then so that he could face Neil, who still sat on his bed, but he now had his elbows perched on his knees so that he could cup his face with his hands. He smiled at Todd as they made eye contact, and Todd thought he might just combust. Because while he may not have written that poem, he had written it down because it made him think of Neil. And now he felt just like the two men in the poem, content to be with Neil without having to speak much. It was funny how the awkward moments passed so quickly between them, it was what he loved about the boy, how Neil made him feel so effortless and entirely comfortable with himself, even when he had just been crying. 

Sometimes he felt like he could read Neil’s mind in these moments, they would often share knowing looks or little giggles and winks in quiet moments, and the other Poets would notice and not say a word, but they were always left wondering what had been said, but in truth the two boys had merely looked at each other and some secret knowledge would pass between them. Todd did not like to linger too much on these thoughts because they often made him spiral down into a sadness, because in some ways he recognised this to be a trait of soulmates, if they even existed, but he was not brave enough nor confident enough in himself to ever presume that possibility to be true. He loved Neil anyways, and he was content to love him quietly if it meant he still got moments like these.

He thought for a moment, weighing up the decision in his mind, about whether to just be honest and confirm to Neil that he was indeed, gay. He decided first he would just explain why he had written the poem down in the first place, so he pulled the duvet off of himself and sat up, mirroring the position Neil was sat it, except instead of his face in his hands, Todd leant back, using his arms to support him so that the angle allowed him to gaze easily up at the ceiling, focusing on a chipped square of paint while he talked,

“I picked it uh- I was writing it down because I liked it and I related to it, and um- well I was going to use it as inspiration for my _actual”_ he stressed the word, “poem, the one for the Captain’s class.”

“I like it too; I relate to it too.”

“You do?” Todd looked at him curiously,

Neil responded quickly, “Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“We’ve said ‘Oh’ a lot today, haven’t we?” and Neil smiled at Todd, finding it all both endearing and a little humorous, 

Todd chuckled, “Well, I guess I relate to it because, well- I am gay, Neil. My poem was never going to be about a girl.”

“I kind of figured, and that’s okay.” Neil said gently,

Todd fiddled a bit with his hands, twisting his fingers together, “Thanks, that means a lot Neil, it really does. Especially from you.” 

“Todd, I-” Neil stuttered a bit, a rarity for him, “do you remember that poem? The one from last month that I was writing, Charlie took the mick out of that one line.”

“Um, the mousy haired beauty one? Something like that?”

“Yeah, that one,” he ran a hand through his hair, and Todd thought he looked nervous, “well Todd, that poem was about you.”

“Me?” Todd looked a little shocked, and his mouth was parted slightly,

Neil answered, “Yes, you.”

“Oh.”

“There goes another ‘Oh’” Neil laughed to himself, a little cynically, feeling like he had fucked it up, because Todd being gay did not necessarily mean he felt the same way about him. So, he watched Todd’s face for a reaction, and Todd certainly had reacted. A flush was rising up his neck and slowly turning his cheeks rosy, and then Todd was ending Neil’s misery by saying, 

“Well, um Neil, when I read that poem. Well, I- I thought of you.” He stopped to gather his thoughts a bit, “Because, I like you Neil, and I feel about you like the two youths feel in the poem.”

Neil, who had been looking down at his feet, pulled his head up quickly at Todd’s words, and rather quickly he was responding, “That’s why I liked it, when Charlie read it… it made me think of you too.” He was smiling now, because this meant that their feelings for each other were mutual. He had long since considered it a lost cause, his love for Todd, but now it was possible for Todd to love him back since he already liked him.

Neil stood up then, and he made the few steps over to Todd’s bed, where he leant down and clasped the other boy’s hand in his own, pulling him upwards into his arms and he held him in a warm embrace. It felt like they were hugging one another for an hour, but it was only a few minutes, and the whole time Neil was keenly aware of how the shorter boy’s face was cradled in his neck, and how he could feel Todd’s gentle breaths on his bare throat. Then, softly, Neil felt the gentle touch of Todd’s lips on the side of his neck, and Todd glanced up at him with wide eyes, and having decided to seize the day entirely, whispered,

“I don’t just like you Neil, I love you.”

Neil smiled so wide his eye crinkled at the corners, “You don’t know how much that means to me Todd because I love you too, I think I have since the moment I met you.” He gathered up some courage and asked what he had been longing to ask for weeks now, “Can I kiss you?”

Todd simply nodded, and then he was closing his eyes and leaning his face upwards towards Neil’s until their lips pressed together in a soft kiss. Todd smiled against Neil’s mouth, and they kissed until they had to stop to take a breath, but Neil’s hand had made its way under Todd’s shirt and he was gently rubbing the boy’s waist with his thumb. Todd chuckled slightly before he spoke,

“Neil, I’m exhausted… I know it’s early, but I think I might have to go to sleep.” He had totally wiped himself out with the constant up and down of his emotions throughout the day. He had gone from total humiliation to the highest degree of content so rapidly he thought he might melt into a puddle from it all. Neil gave him a loving kiss on the nose before replying,

“Let’s just go to bed then” and they changed quickly into their pyjamas, Neil climbed into his bed and shuffled over so that he was pressed closer to the wall, meaning Todd was able to squeeze himself in beside him. Neil wrapped an arm around the smaller boy so that his hand rested against Todd’s heart, and Todd turned his head slightly to the side the press a kiss to Neil’s arm. “I’ll let this slide with Nuwanda, since it actually ended up working out for the better… but Neil,” Neil nodded at him in response, “You could have picked a better compliment than mousy-haired” Neil let out a loud laugh at that and said he was open to some poetry lessons from Todd and about Charlie, well he had given him a good enough whack for his obliviousness. Todd’s chest shook with soft laughter, and then his eyes were drooping, and it was not long before they nodded off to sleep, encased in each other’s arms. 

So, that was how Charlie found them an hour later, he had spent the whole time they were gone writing a grand apology speech that he was going to present to Todd and beg for forgiveness with. When they did not return to the study room, he got curious and he ended up whistling his way across the corridors and hallways of Welton to their dorm room, where he didn’t knock as was his usual custom, and as he opened the door he said rather loudly,

“Todd! I have come to apologise!” but he got no response except for the gentle snores of the two boys who lay tangled together in bed. “Oh.” Charlie said, quieter this time, and suddenly all of the little things like the mousy-haired poem and the way Neil had looked at Todd made sense, Neil had looked at the boy because it was about him. Then he thought about how Todd only really got so flushed when he was around Neil, and how Neil would always be touching Todd’s shoulder or looking at him when he made jokes to see if Todd would laugh, it all was perfectly clear now. They were in love with each other. Charlie rubbed his forehead, “God, I am an idiot.” And he turned to quietly leave the room, not wanting to disturb the sleeping boys, but as he was slowly closing the door, he heard the soft voice of Neil call out, 

“That you are Nuwanda, that you are.” and Charlie stuck his hand back through the small gap between the door and the frame to give Neil the finger before pulling his arm back again, and as the door finally clicked shut, he could hear the gentle laughter of Neil inside the room. He’d make it up to Todd tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on twt @nuwanderism if you want to say hi <3 and as always thanks to everyone in campitts for constantly inspiring me, even alex the smurf ;)


End file.
